Secret Sunshine

Theatrical Release Date: 2010 12 24 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 715515085212

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:null

Summary: In this somber Korean drama, a young mother and widow, Shin-ae, moves with her young son, Jun, from Seoul to a small town called Miryang following her husband's death. Having given up on her career as a concert pianist when she married her husband, she starts up a piano school, but soon it begins to feel like the polite people who inhabit her new home aren't as friendly as they seem on the surface. Judgmental whispers and disapproving gossip begin to reach Shin-ae's ears, and pressure to join the Christian cult that thrives in the town begins to mount. She's hesitant until an unimaginable tragedy alters her life forever, setting Shin-ae on a dark path of withdrawal from society as a whole. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Actress – Cannes Film Festival Film Presented – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Film Presented – New York Film Festival Film Presented – Vancouver International Film Festival Film Presented – London Film Festival Film Presented – AFI Fest Film Presented – Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Presented – Rotterdam International Film Festival Film Presented – Melbourne International Film Festival

Features: New video interview with Lee
On the set of "Secret Sunshine" a behind the scenes video piece featuring interviews with actors Jeon Do-Yeon and Song Kang-ho
U.S. theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Dennis Lim

Secret Sunshine

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 08/23/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DHMA null

Runtime: 142 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitles: English

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Michael Buening

Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine is reminiscent of the melodramas of Lars von Trier: an intense long-form character study with a novelistic sense of shifting form in a dark, almost cynical tale of awakening. It opens with Lee Shin-ae (Jeon Do-yeon) lost in her car on the outskirts of Miryang, a Korean town whose name means "Secret Sunshine." She is rescued by bumbling mechanic Kim Jong-chan (Song Kang-ho), who takes an immediate interest in her and helps to set up a piano-teaching school in the city. This comfortable settling-in is disrupted after her son is abducted and found dead. For the rest of the movie, Lee undergoes a spiritual journey as long-term mental breakdown, joining a born-again Christian church and then rejecting God through self-abasement. The narrative and the characters are constantly twisting in unpredictable ways. "There are things you can't see," advises a Christian pharmacist, hinting at the underlying beauty and cruelty within the town. In conservative Miryang, the men are callous toward women, insensitive to their emotions. Song, adding layers to the bumbling yet cocky comic persona that has made him a Korean movie star, comes across variously as a puppy dog, stalker, and harmless fool. The open-hearted Christians can be delusional and na?ve, yet all are also capable of acts of generosity. The blue sky which often fills the frame can be oppressive or freeing. Lee weaves these disparate elements into a harmonic whole, ultimately revealing a deeper current that sustains the community. Yet for all his mastery, Lee has a maddening tendency to overplay his dramatic hand. Similar to his Oasis, he revels in climatic fits of screaming and risks romanticizing a medical issue (a physical handicap in Oasis, a mental breakdown in Secret Sunshine) in the service of a broader message. But insanity is not a road to enlightenment. Jeon's searing and brilliant performance charts her character's breakdown so convincingly it only drives the point home. To Lee's credit, though, the ending retains an air of mystery as to where life will lead her. Secret Sunshine was featured in the 45th New York Film Festival and Jeon won the Best Leading Actress award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Michael Buening, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Hanna Lee  Producer 
Lee Chang-dong  Director 
Lee Chang-dong  Executive Producer 
Lee Chang-dong  Screenwriter 
Kim In-soo  Executive Producer 
Christian Basso  Composer (Music Score) 
Jeon Do-yeon  Actor 
Song Kang-ho  Actor 
Jo Yeong-jin  Actor 
Kim Yeong-jae  Actor 
Seon Jeong-Yeob  Actor 
Song Mi-rim  Actor 
Kim Mi-hyang  Actor 
Lee Yun-heui  Actor 
Kim Mi-kyeong  Actor 
Oh Man-seok-I  Actor 
Lee Sung-min  Actor 
Park Myeong-sin  Actor 
Ko In-beom  Actor 
Park Sang-gyoo  Actor 
Lee Dong-yong  Actor 
Ko Seo-hee  Actor 
Kim Hye-ji  Actor 
Choi In-seon  Actor 
Kim Min-Jae  Actor 
Kwon Geum-san  Actor 

Country: South Korea